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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

I was up at 06:00AM for coffee, fever was gone and felt pretty good. Donna was still feeling down and slept in. She could use the rest. Later in the morning I went out and got her some hot food for an early lunch.

My Son Andy announced that today would be a big Q day and went to the store for some pork steaks, ribs, and brauts & sazizza’a. He started the grills at about 01:00PM is spending the afternoon cooking. We will eat good tonight. Baked Potatoes, and Baked beans.

Donna has decided to stay home from the restaurant and try to get back in shape. I am glad of that.

Rigg’s and Sadie are supervising Andy with the grilling.

How about another picture from my Navy Days, this one was taken from Vultures Row on top of the island on the USS Independence on our 1969 cruise to England while we were in the Atlantic. I don’t know if anyone realized it when the picture was taken, but in the distance is a submarine, don’t know if it one of ours, but it sure resembles an Echo class Russian sub, they used to shadow us all the time especially in the Atlantic where it got rough for their trawlers. Of course my attention would have been on the planes and our helicopter from my detachment.

Sub is above the top F4’s tail.

Ah to be young again and surrounded by the smell of seawater, and JP5 fumes. This picture was taken from the looks of it just after a recovery since the two Phantoms in the foreground are still manned and their canopies are still shut. They are probably getting ready to launch after the helo is fueled and off again.

Nice day for Qing today sunny but only 80 degrees, not much else going on. Hope everyone is having a great day. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna……

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

After two days absence I figured I better get a post put to let you know things are fine here with Donna & I here at the Weeb Ranch, just not a lot going on, we have had a delightful spell of cooler temps, but it will start going into the middle 80s tomorrow. Had some on and off rain today though.

Donna has some sort of a bug the last couple days, and I had a fever today, must be something going around.

I have been thinking of maybe a side trip up to Union Il. to visit the Illinois Railroad Museum, supposed to have a huge collection of restored equipment there. If anyone has been there and knows of a campground close let us knw, It is close to Chicago, and I don’t know of many campgrounds in Chicagoland.

Other than that all is well and the mutso’s are having fun playing. Hope all is well with all our friends out there. Be safe. Sam & Donna….

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Was up early for my coffee, Donna slept in late since she worked last night at the restaurant, and has the day shift today.
The weather has cooled some and is gorgeous, sunny and in the mid 70’s. Last night it went down into the 50’s which was some sort of a record overnight low.Rigg’s notices my plate is clean after breakfast.
It is really making me think about us getting the wheels turning again if maybe just for a short vacation type trip just to get away from the house for a little while. I wanted to go to Pa. for a high school get together on Aug 17th, but Donna is still not feeling up to a 900 mile trip.
Not much going on here , Rigg’s and I are holding down the Ranch, he is enjoying the cooler temps and is spending more time outside chasing the bunnies.
How about another blast from the past. 1968 in the Med.An RF8-G photo Crusader over the USS Shangri-La and it’s Destroyer escort.
These are what they used during the Cuban missile crisis to photograph the missile sites.The squares on the side and on the bottom had high res-high speed camera’s and would take sharp pictures. They could just about hit Mach 2 so Cuba had nothing close to them, usually their anti aircraft didn’t start firing till they were well past.
Well that’s about it for today, hope all is well in blogland and everyone is enjoying a nice weekend. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Was up early for coffee, Donna slept in since she worked the evening shift at the restaurant last night. It pretty much a cloudy cool day here at the Ranch, got up to 73 degrees and we had a couple of short showers.

Had to make a Wally World run since my battery charger quit on me yesterday, also needed a length of garden hose for the back patio so Rigg’s can get his baths. The old one got run over in the driveway and the end and sprayer got crushed.

Since it’s Friday I have all the implements of destruction set out to make a homemade pizza. None of the kid’s will be here so I will have it all to myself.

Hoping to get out for some RVing in August, Donna is feeling better and hopefully she will be able to get some time off at the restaurant again.

That’s about it for today hope everyone is having a great week, Be safe out there. Sam & Donna………..

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Our company, our niece and nephew and the boys from Ohio arrived about 10:30PM last night after an 8 hour drive.
We sat up until about 12:30AM and gabbed and had a few drinks and pizza and then everyone was ready for bed. The boys slept in the fiver.
This morning was spent showing old family pictures, and Donna made a huge breakfast. Geae, Patrick, Spencer, and friend Zack.Spencer, Donna, Sam, Patrick & Geae.
Patrick is 6-7 and played Football for Ohio State. Spence has played football the last couple years and he has switched to LaCrosse. He is a big boy for 15.
The boys spent the morning riding John Deere around the yards and generally doing what 15 year old boys affected by gasoline fumes do. Patrick took a turn around the yard too.
They are towing a Camaro Z28 that is being restored and they are taking it to South St Louis where their Uncle Terry has a garage and is going to help with the restoration. Spencer’s Camaro.
A little after noon hour they headed out, wish they could have stayed longer, Maybe next time.
Nothing else going on we are going to plan a short trip here soon before the kid’s go back to school. Hope all is well with all our friends. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna…..

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Was up ay 06:00AM an coffee with my bride, then about 08:00AM before it was hot, Donna went up on the roof of the fiver and took the TV antenna off so I could replace the elevating gear on it, she replaced it with the new gear and it works just fine so that is the last on our fixit list from our last trip now we can look forward to planning another one. If your wondering why Sam doesn’t go upon the roof, my weight is over the limit, and I have to watch the numbness in my feet from neuropathy since it effects my balance, so luckily Donna is still healthy enough to do this.

Also today the carpenter installed two more roof turbines on our roof, so maybe they will help maybe keep the attic cooler in these 100 degree days. especially after sundown it should bring cooler temps in and the house won’t heat up as fast and work the air conditioner so hard.

It was another gorgeous hot sunny day, temp at 04:00PM is 91 and it is just a nice day.

Our Niece Geae and Nephew Patrick will be coming for a short visit from Westerville Ohio. with one of their boys and a friend tonight, That is just north of Columbus in Delaware County. They had to wait until after work to leave so it will be after 10or 11PM before they get here as it is a 8 hour drive.

Not much else going on, I hope all our friends are doing fine.Be safe out there. Sam & Donna……

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Had another nice weekend, stayed in the middle 80’s yesterday and today it is cloudy and in the 80’s.

Donna worked the restaurant last night and slept in so I had my 06:00AM coffee with Rigg’s and Sadie.

For the last several weeks since Donna found her bicycle I have promised her I would look for one for me so I could join her in rides and get more exercise.

I watched Craigslist, but the single speed / coaster brake cruiser style bikes were between 75 and 150 dollars, these are used bikes, found one for 50 but the guy never answered his phone or e-mails.

I was about ready to give up but the other day when I was in Wal-Mart shopping I saw a 26 inch Huffy Cranbrook Men's coaster brake bike with a nice fat seat, marked down to 89 dollars. I came home and this morning I hit craigslist again and all the bikes were higher than that. I told Donna I think I am going to go and buy the one at Wal-Mart, at least it will have a new brake and bearings. When I got there it had been marked down again to 85 dollars and there were four left one girls, a white men's, and two brown men's. I didn’t like the white with black fenders, so I bought one of the brown and black ones.

Even came with white sidewalls.

That’s the big new for today, my bride and I can tear up the sidewalks in the subdivisions around us and maybe feel better at the same time.

Donna is off today so we are having Fettuccine Alfredo Polo tonight for our dinner, one of my favorites.

Not much else going on the two mutts are laying around and having a rest period. Rigg’s is at his post under the kitchen fan next to his Dad, and Sadie is laying in her little bed behind my chair. No one is going to sneak up on the back door without the dynamic duo alerting us.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Another hot one here at the Ranch. While it was still cool I decided on a project I have been wanting to do for awhile. I ran a cable of 10-3 wire out of the garage and put an all weather box on it with a 30amp RV socket in it. I wired it to a 30aqm breaker in my fuse box.

Checked it all with a meter, then I attached the 30 ft 30 amp extension I just bought to my fiver cord and the voltage protector, turned it all on and went in and saw I had AC voltage and turned the A/c on , The fan ran but no compressor. I read the voltage at an outlet and it read 109, this was during a peak use period, but I still thought the compressor would be running, IT ran last week off my generator no problem. Al I can think of is the run of 10-4 RV cord ( black) is about 30 feet on the trailer and I bought a 30 foot extension to reach the pad , so maybe it is to long a run, I will have to recheck everything on a cooler day.

Rigg’s went to the doggie park this morning and again he was the king of the water, He just loves swimming and swims until he is ready to drop, then when he gets home he sleeps the afternoon away.

Donna has the restaurant tonight, so me and Rigg’s will be batching it.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Was up early and had coffee with my pretty bride, Donna started a couple loads of wash and I read some blogs on the lap top. I think I mentioned I was looking at a Verizon Mifi Jetpack 4510L for $34.99 on Amazon, I had seen it when we were in Florida and Pauls other guests Brian and Sue had one in their motorhome. I liked the idea of being able to post and have your own wi-fi hotspot when you were parked where there wasn’t any wi-fi provided.What I didn’t like was having to sign a to a two year contract with Verizon if you wanted a free MiFI, if you wanted it on a monthly basis where you could turn it on or off when your traveling, then they wanted $300 for the Mifi. So that was when we said no to Verizon.

Anyway I found that they sell Verizon Mifi’s on Amazon and I ordered one for $34.99 a lot different than $300 even if it was used. It arrived yesterday and appeared like new, however it didn’t have a sim card inside. So this morning I went to the Verizon to see what a sim card would cost and what I could get a 2 week activation for to make sure it worked. When I got to the counter a young lady started off by saying she could give me the sim card free, but there was a $36 activation fee and I would have to pay the first time for a month at $60 a month. I was about ready to say no I don’t even know if this thing works, when a young man who had store manager on his name tag came over and told the girl to take care of some people that had walked in just before me and he would wait on me. He was looking at my US Navy Aviation ballcap, Then he said did you fly in the Navy and I said yes I was a rescue swimmer and aircrewman in a rescue helicopter squadron. He got a big smile on his face and said , my Dad flew in the Navy too and he was rescued by one of those choppers, if he wasn’t I wouldn’t be here now. I told him I am always embarrassed when some makes a fuss over my service, but he said he no problem just remember you guys made a difference in this world. The bottom line was he discounted and waived the activation fee, and let me have a two week trial with 250 megs of data for $15.00. The used Mifi works like a champ, and when we hit the road again all I have to do is go and have them turn it back on for the month and then call in to renew the months until we want it shut off, no contracts no nothing.

My $34.99 Mi Fi Jetpack.

That is the news for today, it is another hot one today here at the ranch, it was only supposed to reach 93, but it is 98 and still climbing at 01:00PM. I may need to go to the pool later, no outside work today for us.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

We were up early for coffee while the temperature was still 67 degrees.about 08:00AM I made a run to Lowes to get a steel runner for the door to the new porch. I also needed a tube of Liquid Nails to reattach some molding in the fiver that seems to vibrate loose. I guess it flexs and the tacks they use won’t hold. This is how I solved the problem in our old fiver and the glue never did come loose.

The carpenter came and finished our new steps this morning. They are really a nice piece of work, heavy duty and really reflect on Bob the carpenters craftsmanship.

Front right view.

Front left view.

Side view showing the shelf for Donna to put stuff on.

Have to wait a couple weeks before I can stain it to match the porch. It is all treated lumber so it should last longer than the 25 years the old porch lasted. On the old porch the posts that support it were 4x4’s, on this they are 8x8’s all anchored to the concrete and rock solid, even when my 250lbs go up and down there is not an ounce of give. It is also 3 feet longer than the old porch, the old one the steps started down right at the edge of the door so you had to stay on the step to open the door.Something Donna and I never liked. Now there is room to spare. All in all a first class job.

Donna is making a nice pot roast for dinner tonight, the house smells great.

Pot Roast simmering.

Rigg’s is laying on the kitchen floor with his nose pointed toward the cook station, I know dreams of a pot roast supper are filling his head.

Looks like we will have one more sunny day in the 80’s and then the temperatures will start climbing into the upper 90’s again. That’s how St Louis is in July.

We hope all is well with all our blog friends out there. Be safe. Sam & Donna………

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Donna went out for a couple short work periods burning some more brush in the burn barrel, at this rate we should be done with by the time the summers over.

It turned out to be a pretty nice day here in Dardenne Prairie, It was in the 70’s and sunny this morning and then it went to 85 for the high this afternoon, I can live with that especially with the A/C working now.

Our carpenter came to work about 11AM and it looks like he might be able to finish the step project today, We had him enlarge the upper landing so when you opened the door there was room to still stand on the top landing.

Our Wisconsin friends Karen & Steveio have adopted a young German Shepherd male who was a rescue, and in need of a home, he will be going to one full of love and kid’s and all the things a dog needs. We are so happy for them and their other dog Duke will have a playmate again.

Here is Falco Pfundler.

His name may be changed but as of now that’s what he is going by, He has a beautiful face and stands at attention nice. Hope you guys have the best of luck with the new family member.

Not much else going on here at the ranch. Hope all is well with all our friends out there. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna……..

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Well Wednesday was a complete bust, woke up to a steady rain, no carpenter, no yard work just a sit around do nothing day, even Rigg’s and Sadie didn’t want any part of going out in the rain. Donna did have the restaurant so she left about 03:30PM to go there.

Today it was a bright day and the carpenter showed up and did some work and then left, Donna burned some more brush in the burn barrel.

This afternoon Andy, Samantha and Nicky took Rigg’s and Sadie to the doggie park, Rigg’s of course spent all his time swimming in the lake and retrieving his toy.

Donna headed out to the Restaurant again about 03:45PM .When the kid’s got home Rigg’s crashed and went to sleep on the kitchen floor next to his Dad’s chair. Guess all the water activity played him out. Not much going on , I saw a Verizon Jetpack Mi-Fi/hotspot on Amazon for $34, last time I priced it at Verizon if I wanted to be able to buy the time by the month without a 2 year contract, they wanted $300, So this way I can go and buy the time on the monthly rate and shut it off when we are not traveling.

Not much else going on here at the Ranch, Everyone Be safe out there. Sam & Donna…….

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Well today is pretty much a Makeover day here at the Weeb Ranch. First up was Sadie, Sadie Before… Sadie After…
Boy she looks like she had lost weight in those pictures, I am sure with the 95 degree weather she is more comfortable when she goes out.
Next up the carpenters came to tear out our old screen port steps and extend the porch deck and put new steps in, they were here so early the old steps were ripped out before I could get a picture. Here’s the work in progress.
Pretty sure he will be done with them tomorrow, then we will have to stain them.
The last project for today was to get rid of the weeds that sprang up where our old burn pile used to be in the back yard. My Son’s boss Kevin came over with his brush hog and cleared it for us while Andy trimmed some trees. Before…. During.. After…..
A lot better and now I can get John Deere in there and try to keep ahead of it and maybe throw some seed in this fall before the snow flies.
Nicky came by to stay a few days with us, she is always a pleasure to have here same with Adam.
My contribution for the day was to make a grocery run, while Donna cleared some brush and burned it in the burn barrel.Donna’s pile, the logs are from the Bradford Pear tree we lost in the storm while we were in Florida.
That’s about it for today, hope all is well with all our friends out in blog land. Be safe out there.. Sam & Donna………..

Monday, July 8, 2013

Kind of left you all hanging at the end of yesterdays blog, so here’s what happened. My Son Andy finally located a 60amp double gang breaker, that would fit our box in St Charles Mo. $75. I put it in and it held without any sign of any overload. However the outside A/C unit still did not run, everything else in the house electrical worked including the furnace motor.

Andy asked if I would hitch the generator up to the fiver so he and Samantha could have the air on in there. After all the running he did, I told him yes.

Donna and I called the HVAC company and the said they would have a man first thing Monday morning. of course they called early and said it would be between noon and 02:00PM. He did arrive right around noon and a little while later came in and said it was up and running, and that the high pressure switch had kicked off and all he had to do was push a reset button on the bottom and it fired right up, he thinks we had a voltage surge from the electric company and that’s what kicked the switch off and probably why the breaker burned up.

The best part was when we asked what we owed and he said “No Charge” we had bought the unit from them, and had it serviced each year, in fact a week ago for this summer. So we must have been considered good customers. Not even a service call charge Nada.

Sitting here enjoying the cool air coming from the floor vents, the inside temp got up to 85 in here even after the sun went down and we opened windows and fired up the attic fan. It will take a couple hours but it is dropping slowly.

The generator got it’s first test and carried the fiver with the A/C on overnight, when it is sitting on the grass it is very quiet and you can barely here it running inside the fiver.

Not much else going on here at the ranch, hope all is well with all our blogger friends. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna…..

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Saturday was another great day, weather wise it was sunny and hot, Donna and I just puttered around the house and built one of those shelf unit kits for the kitchen to get rid of two of those TV tray shelf's. It turned out great but the directions as usual were poor.
Donna got short nap in the afternoon while I finished the white clothes, She was then off to the restaurant for the evening shift.
Our friend Al up in Bayfield On. mentioned in his blog today that Kelly & Donna were peas in a pod when it came to their work attitudes, two very attractive pods if I may add that. Donna has always been a workaholic holding down two jobs just about all of our working lives, I hope she can cope with retired living. we were planning on a trip to Pa. in August for a few weeks, but she says she just isn’t feeling up to it. I suggested maybe a week with the Grands someplace where they could have a small vacation and she could just lounge around. It doesn’t take much to make Adam & Nicky happy, just water and a campground.
Woke up Sunday at 04:00AM and found Adam was here for a visit. Also found out Donna was assigned to the day watch at the restaurant, Adam’s Dad is working also, so it looks like Grandpa has step up to the plate again, I think there might be some ker splashes in our days plans.
Did I tell you I have been thinking about surprising Donna with a new TV chair. Only thing I would have have to install a plastic skylight above it in case she decided to get serious about using it.What do think, it’s made by Martin-Baker and is a zero-zero rocket powered model.
That’s about it for now. Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna……..
Here’s a late rant. my Son just came in and said something is wrong with the A/C the house is 82 and the thermostat is set for 76. went outside and the outside unit ,which is only 2 years old wasn’t running. put new batteries in the thermostat, still nothing, went downstairs and a 60 amp double breaker was popped and frozen in the middle and wouldn’t reset. pulled the breaker and sent my son to try and find one on a Sunday, Maybe Lowes or Home Depot stock something.I can only hope that it’s a bad breaker and nothing else. after all they are 20 or more years old. Andy has been gone an hour so that’s not a good sign. that he is finding one. Luckily we have lights, outlets, fridges, power to the pumps, so if we have to we can run fans after the sun goes down, but it is 95 outside now so I am hoping for a fix today. Let you know later……

Friday, July 5, 2013

Donna and I were up early and had our coffee, she did a little work around the house but mostly relaxed, We both took advantage of the holiday yesterday and had an almost do nothing day. although my 4th of July started at 08:30AM with John (Deere) and I making a round of the grass so just in case anyone drove by it would have a fresh cut and holiday look to it. It only took about two hours. and that was it for me, I just sat around and enjoyed the day as a day of relaxation.

Today was pretty much more of the same I folded some laundry this morning and that was it for me. Donna got ready and about 03:30PM she headed over to the restaurant. They were closed for the holiday yesterday so she was home last night. Rigg’s is pacing and trying to be good, my Son is getting the fire ready to Q for supper ,so the smells are getting to Sadie & Rigg’s and the have their noses glued to the back door.

My son Sam’s Condo in NYC has a great view of the Hudson River where they shoot off the cities fireworks display from barges. My other Son Rick was there to watch them with his brother. Here’s a couple of flicks.

Looks like they had ringside seats. A half a block from the building in the lower right corner the USS Intrepid is moored, I spent a short 1 month Det. on her when she was in Pensacola as the training carrier. Maybe someday I’ll get up there to walk her decks once more.My Bucket list keeps growing.

Dardenne Prairies 4th celebration was low keyed, just some fireworks behind the City Hall and that was it. Of course the kid’s in the subdivision kept the noise going until well after midnight. I think St Charles County allows them, since there was no enforcement of any ordinances banning them.I know when I worked over in St Louis County, they were banned in the whole county. no stands no nothing. Here they put big tents up at the beginning of June and sell fireworks until August.

That’s about it for today. Hope everyone is having a great week and maybe some of you had a log weekend like I did. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna………

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

For better than 200 years our Great Country has enjoyed a Freedom known by only a few other lands. I know we all sometimes take it for granted. But we have preserved our freedom by the service of millions of young Americans, some who forfeited their lives to preserve it.
Just by coincidence one of the ships I served on was the USS Independence CVA62 , I was a member of the HC-2 Detachment 62, assigned in the fall of 1969 we made a cruise to England and the Scandinavian countries. To show our NATO Allies we could deploy in winters worst weather on the North Atlantic. USS Independence ca 1970. Sam aboard the Indy in 1969.
I have to say she was a clean modern ship at the time and I was fortunate to have participated in a rescue of a sailor overboard in the mid Atlantic on that detachment. I must say I have nothing but good memories of a good ship , a good crew, a great detachment, something that the stuff of memories are made of. Today CVA 62 is in mothballs with three other sisters in Bremerton Wa. They will never sail again since they are oil fired, and have had all kinds of material cannibalized for their newer sisters of the Nimitz Class.
Happy 4th of July to all our friends and fellow veterans.
On the home front Rigg’s and Sadie were invited to an ice cream social last night since they both have been good.
Rigg’s finished his, but little Sadie couldn't finish hers and her mouth was starting to freeze, so her big brother came to her rescue and helped her out.
Well that’s about it here at the Ranch hope all of you are having a great holiday and long weekend. Please, be safe out there. Sam & Donna…

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Since I have ‘retired’ I have a little more time for some things. Until the last couple of weeks I had no interest nor time to invest in a Face book account, but now I have one. Started looking up old classmates and reconnected. Martha suggested we get together for lunch as Linda who lives in Tampa was going to be in town, turns out her husband owns a business here in O’Fallon so we met at the restaurant where I work. I knew we could get a table out of the way, stay as long as we wanted without a waitress wondering when we were going to get out of her station. We had a wonderful time, got caught up on the rest of the class. Martha has stayed in contact with many of them. Sad to say we have lost many from our small class. I have promised to go to the reunion in October. They wondered why I haven't gone to any but one of the others. I explained, I went to the 10 year and hated it, just like high school. Popular kids only talking to other popular kids, jocks with jocks, and the rest of us out in the cold, told them I decided then and there NO MORE REUNIONS. They convinced me it is different now, that as we have all aged that there is no more of the one upmanship that there was at the 10. And of course my head is a little bigger now since they told me I haven't changed since high school, of course the one did admit she has macular degeneration, so that probably accounts for the statement :-).

Other than that not much going on here, unbelievable that it is July in Missouri and it was 65 this morning and the high for the rest of the week is going to be 85. Normally this time of year it is about 100.

Linda and Martha

The three of us.

(I had to slouch a little, Linda is only 5’2” me at 5”10” was hard to get us in the frame otherwise.)

Now for the utterly ridiculous. Was watching the morning news and a story came on that a local pastor is having a gun buy back program…what’s so unusual about that? Well the buy back is from kids with their plastic guns and water pistols. That these toys only promote gun violence. Now how many of you had toy guns and pretended you were the Lone Ranger or Dale Evans? And none of my toys were neon green and orange, they actually looked like guns, and I didn’t become a serial killer. I also had, now hang onto your hats, a BB gun! Only heaven knows why I grew up not shooting up my neighborhood or bank with such weapons. In fact I have a water gun right next to me now. You see it is very effective on Riggins when he decides to bark at a leaf blowing, he loves water but hates getting squirted. If I’d didn’t have the luncheon today I was tempted to go to the dollar store and buy a bunch, a pack of 3 is a dollar, drive to the city and make myself a nice profit selling them to this nut. As Karen pointed out what's next, cut off children's index fingers so they cant pull a trigger, or Donna K said she could see how they could be dangerous, a kid might hit another one in the nose, water would go up his nose into his lungs and he could drown.

Okay, I’ll step down from the soap box now. (But damn I could have used that extra cash :-))) )